Metlakahtla and the North Pacific Mission
of the Church Missionary Society

By Eugene Stock

London: Church Missionary House, 1880.

Chapter I. The Field of Labour

British Columbia, now forming part of "The Dominion of
Canada," includes within its limits several islands, of
which Vancouver's is the principal, and that part of the continent
of North America, west of the Rocky Mountains and east of Alaska,
which is included between the 49 deg. and the 60 deg. parallels
of north latitude.

English connection with this part of the world may be said
to date from an exploratory voyage made by Captain Cook in 1776,
when he landed at Friendly Cove and Nootka Sound, and took possession
of them in the name of his sovereign. He supposed at the time
that these places were on the mainland, and it was not until
Captain Vancouver, an officer in the English Navy, was despatched
in 1792 to the Pacific, that he discovered that Nootka and Friendly
Cove were on the west side of the island which now bears his
name, and which is sometimes spoken of as the gem of the Pacific.

In 1793, Alexander Mackenzie, one of the most enterprising
pioneers in the employment of the North-West Fur Company, who
had already discovered the mighty river since named after him,
crossed the Rocky Mountains, and pushed his way westward, until
he stood on the shores of the Pacific. Some years later, in 1806,
Mr. Simon Frazer, another employe of the same Company,
gave his name to the great river that drains British Columbia,
and established the first trading post in those parts. After
the amalgamation of this Company with the Hudson's Bay Company,
other posts were established, such as Fort Rupert, on Vancouver's
Island, and Fort Simpson, on the borders of Alaska, then belonging
to Russia, but subsequently sold by her to the United States.

In 1858, the discovery of gold in the basin of the Fraser
river, on the mainland, attracted a large number of gold-diggers
from California, and among them a considerable body of Chinese.
To maintain order among a motley population of lawless habits,
British Columbia was formed into a colony, with its capital at
Victoria, on Vancouver's Island.

Official returns, made a few years ago, gave the number of
Indians in British Columbia as 31,520, distributed over the islands
and mainland. They belong to several distinct families or nations,
speaking distinct languages, subdivided into a multitude of tribes
speaking different dialects of their own. Thus the Hydahs of
Queen Charlotte's Islands are altogether distinct from the Indians
of Vancouver's Island, where, indeed, those on the east coast
are distinct from those on the west. Again, on the mainland,
the Indians on the sea-board are distinct from the Indians of
the interior, from whom they are divided by the Cascade range
of mountains. These inland Indians are of more robust and athletic
frame, and are altogether a more vigorous race.

Among the coast tribes, however, there are great differences,
those to the north being far superior to those in the south.
Those who know the Indians well declare that it would be impossible
to find anywhere finer looking men than the Hydahs, Tsimsheans,
and some of the Alaskan tribes. "They are," writes
one, "a manly, tall, handsome people, and comparatively
fair in their complexion."

The Indians on the sea-board of the mainland, and those on
the east coast of Vancouver's Island who have affinity with one
another, have been grouped into three principal families or nations.
The first of these is met with at Victoria and on the Fraser
river, and may be called the Chinook Indians, from the language
which is principally in use. In the second division may be comprised
the tribes between Nanaimo on the east coast, and Fort Rupert
at the extreme north of Vancouver's Island, and the Indians on
the mainland between the same points. The Tsimsheans, a third
family, cluster round Fort Simpson, and occupy a line of coast
extending from the Skeena river to the borders of Alaska.

On his arrival at Fort Simpson, on the 1st of October, 1857,
Mr. Duncan found located there, to quote his own words in a recent
official report, "Nine tribes, numbering (for I counted
them) about 2,300 souls. These proved to be just one-third of
the tribes speaking the Tsimshean language. Of the other eighteen
tribes, five were scattered over 100 miles of the coast south
of Fort Simpson, other five occupied the Naas river, and the
remaining eight tribes lived on the Skeena river--the whole of
the twenty-seven tribes numbering then not over 8,000 souls,
though I at first set them down at 10,000. In addition to the
Tsimshean tribes which I have mentioned, I found that Indians
of other two distinct languages frequented the Fort for trade.
These were the Alaska Coast Indians, whose nearest village was
only some fifteen miles north of Fort Simpson, and the Hydahs
from Queen Charlotte's Islands."

The tribal arrangements among the Tsimsheans are very much
the same as among other Indian clans. Each tribe has from three
to five chiefs, one of whom is the acknowledged head. Among the
head chiefs of the various tribes one again takes preeminence.
At feasts and in council the chiefs are seated according to their
rank. As an outward mark, to distinguish the rank of a chief,
a pole is erected in front of his house. The greater the chief
the higher the pole. The Indians are very jealous in regard to
this distinction.

Every Indian family has a distinguishing crest, or "totem,"
as it is called in some places. This crest is usually some bird,
or fish, or animal; particularly the eagle, the raven, the finback
whale, the grisly bear, the wolf, and the frog. Among the Tsimsheans
and their neighbours, the Hydahs, great importance is attached
to this heraldry, and their crests are often elaborately engraved
on large copper plates from three to five feet in length, and
about two in breadth. These plates are very highly valued, and
are often heir-looms in families. No Indian would think of killing
the animal which had been taken for his crest. While two members
of the same tribe are allowed to intermarry, those of the same
crest are prohibited from doing so under any circumstances. The
child always takes the mother's crest: if she belonged to a family
whose crest was the eagle, thru all her children take the eagle
for their crest.

The most influential men in a tribe--not excluding the chiefs--are
the medicine men. Captain Mayne, R.N., thus speaks of them:--[Four
Years in British Columbia, and Vancouver Island, p. 260 (Murray,
1862).]

"Their initiation into the mysteries of their calling
is one of the most disgusting ceremonies imaginable. At a certain
season, the Indian who is selected for the office retires into
the woods for several days, and fasts, holding intercourse, it
is supposed, with the spirits who are to teach him the healing
art. He then suddenly reappears in the village, and, in a sort
of religious frenzy, attacks the first person he meets and bites
a piece out of his arm or shoulder. He will then rush at a dog,
and tear him limb from limb, running about with a leg or some
part of the animal all bleeding in his hand, and tearing it with
his teeth. This mad fit lasts some time, usually during the whole
day of his reappearance. At its close he crawls into his tent,
or falling down exhausted is carried there by those who are watching
him. A series of ceremonials, observances, and long incantations
follows, lasting for two or three days, and he then assumes the
functions and privileges of his office. I have seen three or
four medicine men made at a time among the Indians near Victoria,
while twenty or thirty others stood, with loaded muskets, keeping
guard all round the place to prevent them doing any mischief.
Although a clever medicine man becomes of great importance in
his tribe, his post is no sinecure either before or after his
initiation. If he should be seen by anyone while he is communing
with the spirits in the woods, he is killed or commits suicide,
while if he fails in the cure of any man he is liable to be put
to death, on the assumption that he did not wish to cure his
patient. This penalty is not always inflicted, but, if he fails
in his first attempt, the life of a medicine man is not, as a
rule, worth much. The people who are bitten by these maniacs
when they come in from the woods consider themselves highly favoured."

Mr. Duncan, in 1857, gave the following painfully curious
description of the medicine men--

"The superstitions connected with this fearful system
are deeply rooted here, and it is the admitting and initiating
of fresh pupils into these arts that employ numbers, and excite
and interest all, during the winter months. This year I think
there must have been eight or ten parties of them, but each party
seldom has more than one pupil at once. In relating their proceedings
I can give but a faint conception of the system as a whole, but
still a little will show the dense darkness that rests on this
place.

"I may mention that each party has some characteristics
peculiar to itself, but, in a more general sense, their divisions
are but three, viz, those who eat human bodies, the dog eaters,
and those who have no custom of the kind. Early in the morning
the pupils would be out on, the beach, or on the rocks, in a
state of nudity. Each had a place in front of his own tribe,
nor did intense cold interfere in the slightest degree. After
the poor creature had crept about, jerking his head and screaming
for some time, a party of men would rush out, and, after surrounding
him, would commence singing. The dog eating party occasionally
carried a dead dog to their pupil, who forthwith commenced to
tear it in the most dog like manner. The party of attendants
kept up a low growling noise, or a whoop, which was seconded
by a screeching noise made from an instrument which they believe
to be the abode of a spirit. In a little time the naked youth
would start up again, and proceed a few more yards in a crouching
posture, with his arms pushed out behind him, and tossing his
flowing black hair. All the while he is earnestly watched by
the group about him, and when he pleases to sit down they again
surround him and commence singing. This kind of thing goes on,
with several different additions, for some time. Before the prodigy
finally retires, he takes a turn into every house belonging to
his tribe, and is followed by his train. When this is done, in
some cases he has a ramble on the tops of the same houses, during
which he is anxiously watched by his attendants, as if they expected
his flight. By-and-bye he condescends to come down, and they
then follow him to his den, which is marked by a rope made of
red bark being hung over the doorway, so as to prevent any person
from ignorantly violating its precincts. None are allowed to
enter that house but those connected with the art; all I know,
therefore, of their further proceedings is, that they keep up
a furious hammering, singing, and screeching for hours during
the day.

"Of all these parties, none are so much dreaded as the
cannibals. One morning I was called to witness a stir in the
camp which had been caused by this set. When I reached the gallery
I saw hundreds of Tsimsheans sitting in their canoes, which they
had just pushed away from the beach. I was told that the cannibal
party were in search of a body to devour, and if they failed
to find a dead one, it was probable they would seize the first
living one that came in their way; so that all the people living
near to the cannibals' house had taken to their canoes to escape
being torn to pieces. It is the custom among these Indians to
burn their dead; but I suppose for these occasions they take
care to deposit a corpse somewhere, in order to satisfy these
inhuman wretches.

"These, then, are some of the things and scenes which
occur in the day during the winter months, while the nights are
taken up with amusements--singing and dancing. Occasionally the
medicine parties invite people to their several houses, and exhibit
tricks before them of various kinds. Some of the actors appear
as bears, while others wear masks, the parts of which are moved
by strings. The great feature in their proceedings is to pretend
to murder, and then to restore to life, and so forth. The cannibal,
on such occasions, is generally supplied with two, three, or
four human bodies, which he tears to pieces before his audience.
Several persons, either from bravado or as a charm, present their
arms for him to bite. I have seen several whom he has thus bitten,
and I hear two have died from the effects."

One of the most curious and characteristic customs of the
Indians of British Columbia is the giving away of property
at feasts. Mr. Duncan gives the following account of it:--

"These feasts are generally connected with the giving
away of property. As an instance, I will relate the last occurrence
of the kind. The person who sent the aforementioned invitations
is a chief who has just completed building a house. After feasting,
I heard he was to give away property to the amount of four hundred
and eighty blankets (worth as many pounds to him), of which one
hundred and eighty were his own property and the three hundred
were to be subscribed by his people. On the first day of the
feast, as much as possible of the property to be given him was
exhibited in the camp. Hundreds of yards of cotton were flapping
in the breeze, hung from house to house, or on lines put up for
the occasion. Furs, too, were nailed up on the fronts of houses.
Those who were going to give away blankets or elk-skins managed
to get a bearer for every one, and exhibited them by making the
persons walk in single file to the house of the chief. On the
next day the cotton which had been hung out was now brought on
the beach, at a good distance from the chief's house, and then
run out at full length, and a number of bearers, about three
yards apart, bore it triumphantly away from the giver to the
receiver. I suppose that about six hundred to eight hundred yards
were thus disposed of.

"After all the property the chief is to receive has thus
been openly handed to him, a day or two is taken up in apportioning
it for fresh owners. When this is done, all the chiefs and their
families are called together, and each receives according to
his or her portion. Thus do the chiefs and their people go on
reducing themselves to poverty. In the case of the chiefs, however,
this poverty lasts but a short time; they are soon replenished
from the next giving away, but the people only grow rich again
according to their industry. One cannot but pity them, while
one laments their folly.

"All the pleasure these poor Indians seem to have in
their property is in hoarding it up for such an occasion as I
have described. They never think of appropriating what they gather
to enhance their comforts, but are satisfied if they can make
a display like this now and then; so that the man possessing
but one blanket seems to be as well off as the one who possesses
twenty; and thus it is that there is a vast amount of dead stock
accumulated in the camp doomed never to be used, but only now
and then to be transferred from hand to hand for the mere vanity
of the thing.

"There is another way, however, in which property is
disposed of even more foolishly. If a person be insulted, or
meet with an accident, or in any way suffer an injury, real or
supposed, either of mind or body, property must at once be sacrificed
to avoid disgrace. A number of blankets, shirts, or cotton, according
to the rank of the person, are torn, into small pieces and carried
off."

The religion of the Tsimsheans is thus described:--

"The Tsimsheans, I find, believe in two states after
death: the one good, and the other, bad; the morally good are
translated to the one, and the morally bad are doomed to the
other. The locality of the former they think to be above, and
that of the latter is somewhere beneath. The enjoyment of heaven
and the privations of hell they understand to be carnal. They
do not suppose the wicked to be destitute of food any more than
they were here, but they are treated as slaves and are badly
clothed.

"The idea they entertain of God is that He is a great
chief. They call Him by the same term as they do their chiefs,
only adding the word for above--thus, 'shimanyet' is chief, and
'lakkah' above: and hence the name of God with them is Shimanyet
Lakkah. They believe that the Supreme Being never dies: that
He takes great notice of what is going on amongst men, and is
frequently angry, and punishes offenders. They do not know who
is the author of the universe, nor do they expect that God is
the author of their own being. They have no fixed ideas about
these things, I fully believe; still they frequently appeal to
God in trouble; they ask for pity and deliverance. In great extremities
of sickness they address God, saying it is not good for them
to die.

"Sometimes, when calamities are prolonged or thicken,
they get enraged against God, and vent their anger against Him,
raising their eyes and hands in savage anger to Heaven, and stamping
their feet on the ground. They will reiterate language which
means 'You are a great slave!'"

A very curious tradition respecting the first appearance of
white men on the coast was related some years ago to Mr. Duncan
by an old chief:--

"A large canoe of Indians were busy catching halibut
in one of these channels. A thick mist enveloped them. Suddenly
they heard a noise as if a large animal was striking through
the water. Immediately they concluded that a monster from the
deep was in pursuit of them. With all speed they hauled up their
fishing lines, seized the paddles, and strained every nerve to
reach the shore. Still the plunging noise came nearer. Every
minute they expected to be engulfed within the jaws of some huge
creature. However, they reached the land, jumped on shore, and
turned round in breathless anxiety to watch the approach of the
monster. Soon a boat, filled with strange-looking men, emerged
from the mist The pulling of the oars had caused the strange
noise. Though somewhat relieved of fear, the Indians stood spell
bound with amazement. The strangers landed, and beckoned the
Indians to come to them and bring them some fish. One of them
had over his shoulder what was supposed only to be a stick, presently
he pointed it to a bird that was flying past, a violent poo went
forth, down came the bird to the ground. The Indians died. As
they revived again they questioned each other as to their state,
whether they were dead, and what each had felt. The whites then
made signs for a fire to be lighted. The Indians proceeded at
once, according to their usual tedious fashion of rubbing two
sticks together. The strangers laughed, and one of them, snatching
up a handful of dry grass, struck a spark into a little powder
placed under it. Instantly flashed another poo and a blaze. The
Indians died. After this the new comers wanted some fish boiling.
The Indians therefore put the fish and water into one of their
square wooden buckets, and set some stones in the fire, intending
when they were hot, to cast them into the vessel, and thus boil
the food The whites were not satisfied with this way. One of
them fetched a tin kettle out of the boat, put the fish and the
water into it, and then, strange to say, set it on the fire.
The Indians looked on with astonishment. However, the kettle
did not consume, the water did not run into the fire Then, again,
the Indians died. When the fish was eaten, the strangers put
a kettle of rice on the fire. The Indians looked at each other
and whispered, 'Akshahn, akshahn,' or 'Maggots, maggots.' The
rice being cooked, some molasses were produced and mixed with
it. The Indians stared, and said, 'Coutzee um tsakah ahket,'
or 'The grease of dead people.' The whites then tendered the
rice and molasses to the Indians, but they only shrank away in
disgust. Seeing this, to prove their integrity, they sat down
and enjoyed it themselves. The sight stunned the Indians, and
again they all died. Some other similar wonders were worked,
and the profound stupor which the Indians felt each time come
over them they termed death. The Indians' turn had now come to
make the white strangers die. They dressed their heads and painted
their faces A nok nok, or wonder working spirit possessed them.
They came slowly, and solemnly seated themselves before the whites,
then suddenly lifted up their heads and stared. Their reddened
eyes had the desired effect. The whites died."

Among the Indians of British, Columbia no Protestant Missionary
had laboured prior to 1857. Some Roman Catholic priests, however,
had been in the country, and of them Captain Mayne writes:--["Four
Years in British Columbia," p. 305.]

"If the opinion of the Hudson's Bay people of the interior
is to be relied upon, the Roman Catholic priests effected no
real change in the condition of the natives. The sole result
of their residence among them was, that the Indians who had been
brought under their influence had imbibed some notions of the
Deity, almost as vague as their own traditions, and a superstitious
respect for the priests themselves, which they showed by crossing
themselves devoutly whenever they met one. Occasionally, too,
might be seen in their lodges, pictures purporting to represent
the roads to Heaven and to Hell, in which there was no single
suggestion of the danger of vice and crime, but a great deal
of the peril of Protestantism. These coloured prints were certainly
curious in their way, and worth a passing notice. They were large,
and gave a pictorial history of the human race, from the time
when Adam and Eve wandered in the garden together, down to the
Reformation. Here the one broad road was split into two, whose
courses diverged more and more painfully. By one way the Roman
Catholic portion of the world were seen trooping to bliss; the
other ended in a steep bottomless precipice over which the Protestants
might be seen falling. [A fac-simile of a similar picture appeared
in the Church Missionary Gleaner, of March, 1880.] Upon
the more sensible and advanced of the Indians, teaching such
as this had little effect. I remember the chief of the Shuswap
tribe, at Kamloops, pointing out to me such an illustration hanging
on his wall, and laughingly saying, in a tone that showed quite
plainly how little credence he attached to it, 'There are you
and your people,' putting his finger as he spoke on the figures
tumbling into the pit."

"Of such kind was the only instruction that the Indiana
had received prior to 1857. Its influence was illustrated in
that year at Victoria, where a Roman Catholic Bishop and several
priests had been resident for some time, and were known to have
exerted themselves among the Songhie Indians who reside there.
A cross had been raised in their village, and some of them had
been baptized; but when these were called before the bishop for
confirmation, they refused to come unless a greater present of
blankets was made to them than had been given at their baptism.
The bishop was said to have been very angry with the priests
when this came to his knowledge; he having very possibly been
deceived by them as to the condition of the Indians. I am informed
that he had a large heart painted upon canvas, through which
be drew a blanket, and represented it to the Indians as symbolical
of their condition."

How the Indians were brought to know the way of God more perfectly,
and to choose it for themselves, it will be the purpose of the
following chapters to show.